A Taxi Test

In the magazine this week, I wrote about a New York City cab driver’s attempt to set a record for the fastest lap around Manhattan. The driver, Max Cohen, is a part-time cabbie who picks up thirty-five people on an average night and makes around $200—though he once made $400 for a single trip, to Philadelphia. “They were drunk, and kinda rich, and they wanted to go, like, now,” he said. Like many cabbies, Cohen has other aspirations, and hopes to one day make ends meet as a filmmaker. He recently made a short film of himself driving from Houston to 125th Street, on First Avenue, without stopping once for a red light, and his next project, which you can fund on Kickstarter, is a film adaptation of “Waiting for the G,” a Beckett-inspired story about the G train.

Like all cabbies—Lizzie Widdicombe wrote about the Taxi Workers Alliance earlier this year—Cohen went through several hoops to get his license. “You gotta pass a drug test, and you gotta go to cab school, and you gotta have English equivalency to, like, a third grade level,” he said. “Basically, repeat back the phrase, ‘I would like to go to Times Square, please.’” Cabbies are expected to know the streets, to some degree, and keep an atlas handy for when they don’t. (Cohen says that European visitors like to brag about how their cab drivers know the city much better than New York’s drivers.) There is also a written exam, multiple choice, on which drivers must score better than seventy percent. The Taxi and Limousine Commission provides a sample exam online. No maps allowed:

From Columbus Circle to Pennsylvania Station, which route is best?a. South on Broadway, then south on Seventh Avenue to 33rd Streetb. East on Central Park West, then south on Seventh Avenue to 33rd Streetc. South on Eighth Avenue to 33rd Streetd. East on Central Park South, south on Fifth Avenue, west on 33rd street to Seventh Avenue

According to Commission rules, in which of the following situations may you refuse a fair?a. The passenger wants to go to Fort Lee, New Jersey.b. The passenger does not speak English.c. The passenger has a disability.d. The passenger is of a different race than you are.

Which of the following is located at W. 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue?a. Madison Square Gardenb. Jacob Javits Convention Centerc. Empire State Buildingd. Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum

You are at the intersection of 155th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan and a passenger wants to go to Jerome Avenue and 163rd Street in the Bronx. Which of the following is the closest bridge connecting Manhattan to the Bronx?a. 145th Street Bridgeb. Macombs Dam Bridgec. Washington Bridged. Madison Avenue Bridge